Address Affordability by Creating More Housing
A new report provides an enlightening overview of the ways in which regulations are driving up the cost of housing in Bozeman.
“Progress is precisely that which rules and regulations did not foresee.” – Ludwig Von Mises
A new report now out for public review details how Bozeman’s onerous housing regulations stifle housing development and worsen the city’s affordable housing challenges. The authors of the report say the supply of housing is the fundamental challenge to Bozeman’s market:
“While additional housing supply is not the only change needed to improve affordability, it is very difficult to see how affordability can improve without additional supply being part of the solution.”
The report provides specific recommendations that city officials can take to create more housing, including:
- Reduce areas zoned only for single-family style homes and/or allow for more dense units to be developed where appropriate in existing single-family zoning districts. This is referred to as “upzoning.”
- Simplifying or eliminating numerous building mandates that drive up the costs of housing, such as: minimum lot sizes, lot area requirements, minimum building setbacks, maximum height limitations, floor area ratio (FAR) limitations, minimum open space standards, maximum lot coverage, and maximum rear lot coverage.
- Eliminate or reduce parking mandates, which were “cited more frequently than any other element as increasing housing development costs”:
- Speed up development reviews by reducing paperwork requirements and allowing for expedited plan reviews for any new residential development up to 12 units.
This report provides an enlightening overview of the ways in which regulations are driving up the cost of housing in Bozeman – and why policymakers must focus on reducing housing regulations if we ever hope to address our crises of affordability.
For Liberty,
Kendall Cotton
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